The Killer Who Ate His Victim's Heart

On May 25, 2012, Antony Kinyua reported 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodi missing to the Baltimore police. A well-educated exchange student from Ghana, Agyei-Kodi had lived with the Kinyua family for about six weeks when he disappeared.

Agyei-Kodi met Antony, a Professor at Morgan State University, while attending the school to work on his Ph.d. He had not worked in three years and awaited deportation back to Ghana after being convinced of several crimes against a girl who attended Morgan State. He was convicted of a fourth-degree sex offense, stalking, and other crimes, and was sentenced to an 18-month jail term.

The convictions resulted in the revocation of his student visa and he awaited deportation when he disappeared.

On May 31, 2012, Kinyua’s oldest son noticed two oddly placed totes in front of the machines. Opening the lids, he found Agyei-Kodi’s head and hands inside. He called the police, who confirmed the remains belonged to the missing man.

Alexander Kinyua, The Younger Son

A month earlier, Antony’s younger son, Alexander, a 21-year-old electrical engineering student at Morgan State, had attacked fellow student Joshua Ceasar with a baseball bat covered in barbed wire, leaving the young man traumatized and legally blind. Alexander was arrested but posted bond on the aggravated assault charge on May 28, two days before Agei-Kodi disappeared.

Until 2011, Alexander had been a well-liked, promising student. He then began exhibiting unusual and sometimes violent behavior. He spoke to a counselor at Morgan State about what was going on in his mind but did not receive any recommendations for a follow-up.

Classmates who knew Kinyua described him as unusual. They recalled instances when they saw him standing outside chanting with his face covered in paint and his frequent discussions about human sacrifices.

Little did anyone know at the time, Alexander suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, including hallucinations, and had created and lived in a delusional world.

He stopped attending church and disassociated from family and friends. Alexander burned incense and brought home animal parts he told his parents he used in religious exercises. He wrote a manuscript featuring African slaves and the Bermuda Triangle.

On social media, he posted about oppression and regression. In a February 2012 post, he asked his Facebook friends and students at historically Black colleges and universities if they were "strong enough to endure ritual HBCU mass human sacrifices around the country and still be able to function as human beings?" He referred to the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech and "other past university killings around the country."

In December 2011, the ROTC dismissed Kinyua from its program, where he had served for two years after he destroyed property. Kinyua told his family he believed people had sabotaged his computer records, leading him to punch holes in the walls. The ROTC officer said Kinyua was a “Virginia Tech waiting to happen.”

Kinyua Confesses to Murder

Based on Alexander’s disturbing behavior and recent attack against Ceasar, Police immediately suspected him of murdering Agyei-Kodie. When confronted, he admitted responsibility, telling authorities he used an ax to kill and dismember Agyei-Kodie, removed his heart, brain, and other organs, and burned his body. Alexander told authorities he had eaten the victim's heart and a portion of his brain.

Police found more body parts inside a dumpster at a church about a mile from the Kinyua home.

Kinyua Charged With Murder

Kinyua was taken into custody. He was initially found incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state psychiatric facility. Psychiatrists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and prescribed two anti-psychotic medications, rendering him competent to stand trial several months later.

Alexander pleaded not criminally responsible on charges of first-degree murder and use of a dangerous weapon in connection with the murder. The court found him guilty of the murder but not criminally responsible. He was sent to the Clifford T. Perkins Hospital Home, a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, where he likely will spend the rest of his life.